Dodgers Call on Davis, 5-3 : Baseball: Outfielder, who actually likes Candlestick Park, gets his 18th home run there during 5-3 victory over the Giants.

SAN FRANCISCO —  Eric Davis sat in front of his locker before Friday’s game, staring into his coffee like every other player stares into their coffee before braving the field at Candlestick Park.

But then he looked up and displayed something as unusual here as a pair of shorts.

He smiled.

“Are you kidding me?” Davis said. “I love this place.”

He then explained himself by hitting a second-inning home run,helping the Dodgers beat the Giants, 5-3, before 27,429 at Candlestick Park.

His teammates, who have won five times in seven games, learn something new about Davis every day.

Besides being their top hitter, it turns out he is something else they need--a Candlestick Buster.

The home run was his 18th at Candlestick, ranking him second behind Dale Murphy (25) among active players. It was his 26th homer against the Giants, his most against any team.

Orel Hershiser followed Davis’ lead in 7 1/3 innings of work by giving up five hits and getting three. The Giants nearly made him pay for leaving early when they scored two runs against him and reliever Jim Gott during the eighth inning.

But Roger McDowell stranded two runners by retiring Royce Clayton on a full-count grounder to second base to end the inning, then pitched a perfect ninth inning for his second save.

Eric Karros added his second two-run homer in nine starts this season. He is batting .352 in his last six games.

Then there was Mike Sharperson, who before the game had no runs batted in in 29 at-bats. He got two RBIs in his first three at-bats.

Not that the Dodgers could have been psyched out here Friday, but they had won 10 of 27 games here in the past three seasons while losing the last five games that meant something last season.

And they were facing a pitcher, Trevor Wilson, who did not give up an earned run against them last year.

Davis took care of that latter statistic about 20 minutes into the game, when he hit Wilson’s fifth pitch high over the left-field fence for his third homer.

The Dodgers increased the lead to 2-0 in the third inning after Hershiser doubled into the left-field corner, moved to third on a balk by Wilson, and scored on a single up the middle by Sharperson.

With two hits, Sharperson increased his batting average to .387, ranking second on the team behind Davis.

With Karros’ home run during the fifth, the Dodgers took a 5-1 lead they never lost.

Jose Offerman had started the inning with a walk, then Hershiser blooped a single to right field, moving Offerman to third. After Brett Butler popped out, Sharperson hit a fly ball to right to drive in his second run, setting up Karros’ homer.

Hershiser, who walked Will Clark three times in his first game against the Giants this season, gave up his run during the third inning when he threw a pitch only close enough to the strike zone so that Clark could find it. He drove it into center field for a run-scoring single.

Wilson had started the inning with a walk, one of two walks allowed by Hershiser in that inning after he gave up only three unintentional walks in 20 1/3 innings before Friday.

But any fears that Hershiser would be wild were ended when he struck out struggling Matt Williams looking to end the inning with runners on first and second.

That two-run lead suddenly seemed like a 10-run lead to the relaxed Hershiser, who did not a give up another hit until Clayton singled with one out in the seventh. During that stretch he retired nine of the 11 he faced.

Hershiser finally tired in the eighth, when he gave up a one-out double to Clark, then walked Kevin Bass. He was relieved by Gott after giving up five hits in 7 1/3 innings, equaling his longest outing of the year.

Gott yielded singles by Matt Williams and Mike Felder around a grounder by Robby Thompson, accounting for two runs.